


Under my umbrella-ella-ella

by ananbeth



Series: 30 days of prompts [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24335671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ananbeth/pseuds/ananbeth
Summary: under.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: 30 days of prompts [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/778182
Comments: 8
Kudos: 229





	Under my umbrella-ella-ella

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blackjacktheboss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackjacktheboss/gifts).



> so funny story, i was looking thru my gdocs and found this that i had written in september 2018 and apparently never posted? lol anyway here u go i hope i didn't actually post it two years ago and forget cause that sounds like something i would do
> 
> i decided to post this as part of my 30 days of prompts, so here's "under"

It was the type of rain that didn’t seem like it would ever stop. Falling from the sky in thick gumdrops of water and making rivers in the streets and lakes outside of gutters. Annabeth’s boots stopped being waterproof a couple of blocks back and she could feel the dampness seeping through the material of her hood and the shoulders of her jacket. She gave the sky another miserable look before checking the bus times again. 

She hated taking the bus. But it was either this or walking another six blocks to the subway station because the one next to campus was closed. Although the bus shelter was already crammed full of people and the bus was nowhere in sight, so she may have been better off walking. 

She was nothing if not stubborn though, and she would die on this cold, wet hill.

“Hey,” someone said to her left. 

She looked up to see a guy with a big umbrella looking at her. He looked very dry and not cold at all. Annabeth raised her eyebrows. 

“You want to share?” he asked. “There’s room,” he added when she didn’t answer. 

And, for some reason - probably the damp spreading up to her ankles - she joined him, ducking under the edge of the umbrella and finding herself nose to nose with a stranger. Well, nose to chin. She looked up to find him smiling and he was cute from far away, but he was even cuter up close. 

“Thanks,” she told him, shoving her layers of hoods down and combing her hair back. 

“Not a problem. I would have just given it to you but then I would have also been, well… wet and cold.”

“You would have ruined your hair.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, we couldn’t have that.”

“You think my hair is that great, huh?”

“It’s alright.”

He laughed, shaking the umbrella above them and causing a shower to fall across her shoulders. She let out a protesting noise and pressed closer to him. 

“Shit Sorry,” he said, righting the umbrella. 

“Was that just a ploy to get me closer?” 

He looked surprised but pleased by her flirting, so she didn’t stop. 

“Maybe,” he said. 

She smiled, ducking her head. The sound of the rain on the plastic umbrella made her feel protected and safe. Like the way you feel when you’re inside your home while a storm rages outside, like nothing can touch you where you are. She probably shouldn’t feel that way standing barely a foot away from a complete stranger, but she always prided herself on being a good judge of character and this guy seemed trustworthy. 

She could probably take him if he tried anything anyway. 

“So which way are you going?” he asked her. 

“Um. I’m waiting for the M4.”

“Me too.” His smile was contagious so she joined in. “Goin‘ to visit my ma.”

“Oh yeah is she gonna feed you?”

He bit his lip. “Maybe.”

Annabeth snorted. “Are you one of those people who live on Funyuns and ramen until your mom feeds you once a week?”

He laughed again. “Actually I’m an okay cook. It’s just a Friday night tradition.”

“Really? So no crazy Friday nights out for you?”

“Nah. I survive without them amazingly. What about you? Are you gonna hit the town?”

She raised her eyebrows at his word choice and he lifted one shoulder as if to say,  _ gimme a break _ . So she did. She also looked down at her own attire. She was wearing sweats with the ends tucked into her boots, her college hoodie underneath a heavy coat, and toting a backpack full of essentials. 

“No. I’m heading home from the library.”

“It’s late,” he commented. 

“Finals week approaches.”

“Fuck. Yeah, that’s true. You go to Columbia?”

“Mhm.”

“You’re smart, huh?”

Her mouth curved into a smile all by itself. “I’m alright. What about you?”

“I’m okay,” he said. And when she rolled her eyes, he continued. “I go to Stoneybrooke. Sophomore.”

“Same. You’re pretty far away. Do you live round here?”

“Nah, my buddy lives a block over. What about you?”

“Upper East side. All I can afford.”

He snorted. “Tell me about it. You must live close to my ma’s then.”

She grinned. “You can walk me home then.”

He grinned right back at her. “Yes I can.”

* * *

The rain was pouring in turrets when they reached Annabeth’s stop. She jumped over a puddle to get off the bus and laughed as Percy did the same. He ducked next to her with his umbrella and double checked she was fully covered before following her pointed finger down the street towards her apartment. 

The rain bounced back up off the sidewalk and made them crowd together under their shared shelter. 

“You’re wrong. You’re so wrong it’s embarrassing,” Annabeth told him. 

Percy’s face was comically horrified. “Absolutely not. I won’t back down on this. Smooth peanut butter is the best.”

“You’re missing out on a whole world of crunch.”

He grimaced. “I bet you’re the type of person who likes your juice with pulp.”

Annabeth laughed. “What type of person is that?”

He smiled, just a bit, teasing and cute. She caught the corner of it as they walked side by side and snuck glances at each other. 

“I don’t know. The type of person who eats granola.”

“What does that have to do with pulp?”

Percy just grinned. 

“No I don’t eat granola for breakfast,” she reassured him. 

“That’s okay then.”

“Oh have I redeemed myself?”

“It depends. What’s your usual breakfast?”

“I don’t know. A black coffee.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Hardcore.”

She laughed. “Thanks. I bet you eat cocoa puffs or something.”

“That’s a special treat for Saturday mornings.”

“With cartoons.”

“Obviously.”

She smiled. She was smiling so much her cheeks hurt. She liked him so much. So much. And she’d barely met him. 

“Okay,” she said, “Here's an important one. What kind of jam?”

Percy shrugged. “I’m not picky.”

“What?”

At Annabeth’s outraged expression, he raised his hands, laughing a bit. “I don’t know, man. It’s a sandwich and it’s tasty.”

“Fuck off, you were about to throw hands over peanut butter.”

“Well, peanut butter is different.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Alright what’s your preference?”

“Strawberry.”

He nods, considering. “I like strawberry.”

“Oh so maybe this can work.”

She had stopped, because they’d reached her building, and he stopped too, holding the umbrella over their heads and smiling at her. It was such a sweet smile when she said that to him. His lip bitten and eyes squinting and pimple pushed into his cheek and he was so, so sweet. 

“You think so?”

And that was hope, right there, in his voice and his face and his heart, presented right there on his sleeve. 

She was so unused to receiving this. It wasn’t unusual to flirt with somebody and to have them flirt back. What was unusual was the sweetness, the shyness, the hope. It made her hopeful too, that he wanted to see her again. 

God, she wanted to see him again. 

She wanted to keep feeling this feeling in her chest and her belly. Buzzing. Tingling down to her fingertips and her toes. Making her lean in closer and tell him:

“I think so.”

That smile shifted to something more certain as he stepped closer still and lifted one hand until it was ghosting over her cheek. She leant into it and his finger stuttered over her skin, scattering shivers down her spine. Then they were leaning closer until the spaces between them were filled and their breaths were shared and his lips were soft and so warm in comparison to the cold air around them. They kissed for only a second but as they drew back, their noses brushed and the moment dragged, slow like stretched taffy and somehow more intimate than the kiss they had just shared. 

Annabeth just kissed a stranger in the rain and she felt more cliche than she had ever felt in her life, but she couldn’t bring herself to regret it when Percy pressed his smiling lips to her cheek. 

“Can I get your number?” he asked and it was such a practical question among all this intensity that she laughed. 

“Yes you can,” she told him, allowing more space to gather between them. 

She typed it straight into her phone, adding her full name too before handing it back over and Percy grinning the whole time. 

“You’d better text me.”

“I’ll do better than that, I’ll call you.”

“Wow, how old fashioned of you.”

“That’s the way I roll.”

“I can’t wait.”

She really, really couldn’t. 

They were still standing there, smiling at each other while Percy messed with his phone in one hand and held the umbrella in the other. Annabeth rested one hand in his chest and leaned up to kiss his cheek. 

“Good night, Percy. Thanks for the shelter and the company.”

“You’re welcome. I hope the second one wasn’t too bad.”

“It was great,” she reassured him. “I gave you my number didn’t I?”

“I’m hoping it’s real.”

“You know where I live, too.”

“Hm. Not very good self-preservation skills.”

“Well, I’ve done fine until now.”

He smiled. “Good night, Annabeth.”

“Good night.”

He held the umbrella over her until she reached the stoop and let herself inside, lingering with the door half open as she watched him step backwards into the sidewalk. She closed the door eventually, with a parting smile and her phone pinged almost immediately. She grinned when she saw the text and typed out her response quickly, feeling her heart gallop away in her chest. 

_ Unknown number: please please please be the right number _

_ Annabeth Chase: it’s the right number x _


End file.
